There’s an insane amount of independent games being released on a multitude of platforms nowadays. With all that volume, there are some games that are missed or overlooked. Every month I will be discussing a game that never got the attention it deserved considering the quality that it brings to the table.
There’s this certain genre of game. The one that makes you want to throw your controller across the room, but then immediately grab it again to put yourself through the same torture again and again. It’s a style popularized by the Souls series, as well as some more popular indies (Celeste, Super Meat Boy). It’s a style that has grabbed me many times before and will continue to do so.
These kinds of games work for a couple reasons. First, there is always a sense of constant progression, and that’s a hook that keeps people coming back. It doesn’t have to be a lot of progression. I can technically get less far, but feel like I learned something small that’s worth at least trying on the next run. So now I have to try at least one more run. Just one. Because this is the one, I can feel it! Secondly, it works best when it can pop you back into the madness almost instantly. I want to be back at my checkpoint and ready to start again before I’m done talking myself out of chucking my controller, and console, and maybe myself out the goddamn window. But hey, it’s already up and begging me to just give it ONE more try. So why not? Thirdly, the controls have to be tight. These types of games only work well when it feels like it is MY fault when I die. If I die a couple times in a row because the platforming is inconsistent or the hits sometimes don’t register, then that’s enough for me to rage quit and refuse to pick it back up again. If I feel like there’s a possibility that I will have the run of my life, just to die on some BS, then that’s a particular form of torture that I will happily keep from coming back to.
Splasher is a game that does all these things and does them so, so well. It gives you that mix of anger and frustration, but gives you the sight line to see that you are so close to getting through (this next time will be the one, I just know it). It slots right into this popular type of game and has the quality to deserve some recognition, but it just doesn’t seem to get enough. So you didn’t ask for it Splasher, but you are going to get my praise whether you like it or not. Sit back and strap in.
I started off 2018 playing Celeste (my personal GOTY) and instantly fell in love. With it’s charming characters, beautiful music, and hard as nails platforming, I couldn’t put it down. I beat the game and just wasn’t ready for it to end, but Celeste gets its fair share of praise and accolades throughout the industry, so it doesn’t fit into this category of “underappreciated” that I’m going for. What IS underappreciated, is the game that I purchased on a whim after completing Celeste (and after I got tired of getting fucked by the B-sides). A game I got because I was desperately clinging for anything that could give me the same feeling. Splasher delivered, and in turn became my inspiration for this monthly column.
In Splasher, you are a worker at Inkorp where all the workers are top notch employees (work first, ask questions never). One day, a little purple haired staffer, walks in on his CEO pumping paint into the bodies of his fellow comrades, which is turning them into a plethora of different monstrosities. Good ole purple hair gets caught peeking and high tails it out of there and from that point, you’re in control. You have to platform yourself to safety with nothing to aid you aside from your handy dandy splat cannon.
The splat cannon is the main source of the gameplay variation throughout Splasher. It starts with red sticky ink, which as you imagine will let you stick to walls and ceilings. Later, you get the yellow bouncy ink, that allows you to get places that you can’t normally reach by bouncing off of everything like a springboard. Lastly there’s a water cannon, which is used to clean up the mess of ink that's being made everywhere you look. With these three, you will go through the twenty or so levels to get out of that hellhole and stop your boss and save the day.
The game has a little hub world that you do most of your getting around in and there are doors aplenty that become unlocked as you progress through the game. These doors lead to different linear levels, which after beating, pops you back. This allows you to jump back into a level if you want to complete everything you can.
Each level has a couple different collectibles that adds to the replayability of each area. As you progress through the game, you will pass by your fellow compatriots who are stuck in their own sticky situation (they’re usually literally stuck to the wall, punny right?) You will normally have to veer off into more dangerous situations in order to be the hero and are rewarded with the visual of your friends flying off to safety. Each level has eight Inkorp employees to save, which when all collected spell out the word “Splasher”. The last little guy is locked in a cage that can only be unlocked by using gold ink that is splashed around each level. Collect all the gold and unlock the cage. As I felt compelled to dive through buzzsaws and bound over acid to save a friend in need, I never felt the need to do the same for a little extra ink in the midst of a level, but it's a nice little extra to go for if you're really wanting to be a completionist.
They do some creative things with the splat cannon, but as the game goes on, it relies on the precision of the jumping to add to the difficulty. There isn’t a lot of standing still to figure out which ink should go where. You can always see what needs to be done at first glance, but later in the game there are so many moving parts and you are covering so much distance that things seem impossible. After you take a couple tries, though, your little Splasher man starts to make you think there's a chance. When you finally complete that run, it feels incredibly satisfying to be bouncing on multiple narrow platforms and covering crazy distance on each jump while threading the needle between some buzzsaws and lasers. I would sometimes land and take a breath because I actually made it! That feeling is what makes this game and this type of game so great.
The “story” of this game is basically nothing. You go from room to room and at the end you do a big level that ends with the defeat of your demented boss. The game has a certain charm about it that works too. The baddie flipped me off maybe ten times will puffing on his big cigar, which is pretty fun, as he will sometimes pop out of a vent to do it on a random level. The music is fun and got me amped to do some running and it sometimes got me killed as it made me want to fly through some precision necessary bits at a little too brisk of a pace. The whole aesthetic is bright and colorful as hell and it all feels very fun (that’s why we play games right? for fun?).
Splasher is not a good game for “what it is”. It’s not a good game in a hipster sort of way where people talk about Super Meat Boy and then I throw out Splasher instead just to be edgy and cool (“we get it man, you’re edgy and cool” - Waiting reference) Splasher is a GREAT game, on its own and without any comparison to anything else. It should be picked up by anyone who enjoys the hook of tough, precision based platforming, that gives you the sense of accomplishment at multiple points of the journey. It’s fun and upbeat and colorful and oh my god can everyone just try it out.
Comments